ESB-5 Miguel Keith - Montford Point class
NASSCO received a $106 million contract in June 2016 to procure long lead time material and engineering support for ESB 5. Previously known as the Mobile Landing Platform Afloat Forward Staging Base program, Expeditionary Mobile Base is a ship that provides logistics movement from sea to shore supporting military operations. The ESB will provide a flight deck and expansive reconfigurable mission deck; military personnel accommodations; small craft launch and recovery capabilities; and command, control, communication, computer and intelligence for communication and computer equipment across multiple networks and architectures. The 239.3-meter-long ESD/ESB ships were based on an existing commercial design – the Alaska class crude oil carrier built by General Dynamics National Steel and Shipbuilding Company (NASSCO).
The future USNS Miguel Keith (ESB 5) held a keel laying ceremony 30 January 2018, at the General Dynamics NASSCO shipyard, San Diego. A keel laying is the formal recognition of the start of a ship's construction. It is the joining together of a ship's modular components and the authentication or etching of the ship sponsors initials into a ceremonial plate. "A keel laying is the first major milestone in the construction of a new ship," said Capt. Scot Searles, Strategic Sealift and Theater Sealift program manager, Program Executive Office (PEO) Ships. "The keel is the symbolic backbone of the ship. Over the next several months ESB 5 will begin to take shape and I look forward to seeing its progress as we continue constructing this versatile ship."
ESBs are highly flexible, modular platforms that are optimized to support a variety of maritime based missions including Special Operations Force and Airborne Mine Counter Measures support operations in addition to humanitarian support and sustainment of traditional military missions. The ESBs include a four spot flight deck and hangar and a versatile mission deck and are designed around four core capabilities: aviation facilities, berthing, equipment staging support, and command and control assets. The ESBs will operate as the component commander requires providing the U.S. Navy fleet with a critical access infrastructure that supports the flexible deployment of forces and supplies.
The Montford Point class is comprised of five ships across two variants in support of the Maritime Prepositioning Force. USNS Montford Point (T-ESD 1) and USNS John Glenn (T-ESD 2) have been delivered and are currently in service. The first of the ESB variant, USS Lewis B. Puller (ESB 3), was delivered to the fleet in 2015 as a USNS ship. In August 2017, the ship was commissioned as an USS ship on station in Bahrain. The USNS Hershel "Woody" Williams (ESB 4) was christened in October and is expected to deliver to Military Sealift Command at the end of February.
Namesake
Miguel Keith was born in San Antonio, Texas and joined the Marine Corps on May 1, 1969. In 1969, Keith served as a machine gunner with Combined Action Platoon 132, III Marine Amphibious Force in Quang Ngai Province, Republic of Vietnam. He was promoted to the rank of Lance Corporal on April 1, 1970.
He was severely wounded on the morning of May 8, 1970 when his platoon came under a heavy-ground attack. Despite being injured in the attack and open to hostile fire, he continued to engage the enemy with heavy machine gun fire. Keith's efforts resulted in him killing three attackers and dispersing two remaining adversaries. Despite receiving further serious injuries caused by an enemy grenade, he continued to advance upon an estimated 25 enemy soldiers, killing four and dispersing the rest.
Keith was mortally wounded, but his performance in the face of overwhelming odds contributed, in no small measure, to the success of his platoon defeating a numerically superior enemy force.
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